46 KENT
EDUCATION AND SKILLS
The value of any regeneration project hinges on the
ability of all elements to merge into a unified whole:
businesses will create jobs for workers who will live
in the new houses and enjoy the leisure and
shopping facilities.
The glue that holds it all together is the ability of the region to provide
business with the skilled workforce it needs. Thames Gateway Kent is
campus, they make available to current and future residents of
blessed, in that there are already educational, research and business
Medway an unparalleled array of courses that will produce a steady
incubation facilities of the highest calibre on site, ready to grow to
stream of qualified staff for businesses in Thames Gateway Kent.
create a world-class centre of innovation, knowledge and research.
The University of Greenwich has three campuses in Greenwich,
Kent Science Park is a teeming hub of scientific innovation and
Avery Hill and Medway, where it first established facilities in 1994.
development and is spearheading a drive to produce workers with the
Programmes available at the Medway campus range from
skills necessary to service the county’s increasingly important
Engineering, Science and Pharmacy to Sustainability. "We are
biopharm sector. The science park is a spacious, campus-style
implementing a broad-based initiative to place students, while
development in Sittingbourne, just five minutes from the railway station
studying, into businesses,” says Professor Alan Reed. “The profile of
and close to the M2 and M20. While politicians and commentators
Medway is mainly smaller SME's and micro businesses, which tend
cry out for more investment in science and cutting-edge technology,
not to know how best to work with universities. But companies that
the 72 companies at the park are quietly getting on with the job in
tend to grow have employees with a degree or equivalent
spectacular fashion, drawing inward investment from around the
qualifications – they make the difference. Our challenge is to try to
world, nurtured in an environment designed specifically to help high-
get these companies to take a graduate test drive. If they like the
tech start-ups and mature companies alike thrive and prosper.
graduate, they may take them on. In this way we will address the
The culture of innovation is fed by a support system run by the science
brain drain that has disadvantaged the Medway region for so long
park and the on-site Sittingbourne Enterprise Hub, a SEEDA initiative
and turn it into a brain gain."
that plays a vital role in helping young companies succeed. Generous
The joint campus provides some of the finest educational facilities
letting structures and flexible space upgrades for fast-growing
available. The Drill Hall Library, at 200 metres the longest library in
companies remove some of the headaches confronting businesses in
Europe with over 2.7 miles of bookshelves, offers computer rooms,
the commercial sector. Through the science park and the enterprise
training space and office facilities. The Pilkington Building houses a
hub, companies are introduced to mentors, business advisors, potential
175-seat theatre, seminar rooms, an exhibition area and social
customers and financiers, again smoothing the path to success.
facilities for students.
But neither SEEDA nor the science park are prepared to let it rest there.
SEEDA chose the site as the location for one of its sector-based
As if further testament were needed to Kent's commitment to the
regional resource centres, the
advance of science and education, the establishment of the
Kent Science Resource Centre,
devoted to providing foundation degree courses in Biotechnology
Medway Innovation Centre at Rochester is yet another example of
and Healthcare Sciences, to enable students to train for jobs in the
cooperation between the public and private sectors breaking new
cluster of cutting-edge bio-pharm companies in the Kent area. It is run
ground. The partnership between BAE Systems, Medway Council,
by the International Institute of Biotechnology, in association with the
the Universities of Greenwich and Kent and the Royal Bank of
Sittingbourne Enterprise Hub, with oversight from SEEDA, and works
Scotland will add a specialist dimension to the region's burgeoning
closely with the local borough council (through Swale Forward), the
reputation for science and high-technology. As at Kent Science Park,
academic stakeholders Mid-Kent College and the Gateway
facilities will be made available to new technology companies who
Knowledge Alliance and other collaborators.
meet certain criteria, particularly with a Homeland Security or Mission
Critical Systems edge.
“As well as biotechnology and healthcare, we also intend to provide
courses in environmental studies,” James Speck, director of Kent
Medway Innovation Centre is based at the BAE Systems site in
Science Park says. “There is a growing demand for specialists in land
Rochester, and in September a new three-storey building opened
reclamation, pollution control and land remediation.”
nearby offering an additional 30,000 sq ft of space and facilities,
including a high-spec data centre and high-speed internet
Kent Science Resource Centre is fully integrated into Kent Science connectivity.
Park’s business incubation matrix, which encourages cross-
fertilisation of ideas and talent between educators, innovators,
Sources:
scientists and businesses.
Kent Science Park
www.kentsciencepark.com
Sittingbourne Enterprise Hub
www.sehl.co.uk
The ethos of cooperation that distinguishes Kent Science Park also Kent Science Resource Centre
drives a unique partnership called Universities at Medway that pulls
www.kentscienceresourcecentre.co.uk
together the very best of four institutions, the University of Universities at Medway
www.medway.ac.uk
Greenwich, the University of Kent, Canterbury Christ Church Medway Innovation Centre
www.medwayinnovation.co.uk
University and Mid-Kent College. By working together on one University of Greenwich
www.gre.ac.uk
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